Guantanamo head requests $150 million in repairs

The new general in charge of the Guantanamo Bay detention camp, which President Obama vowed to shut down, has requested $150 million to overhaul the facility as the detainees engage in a hunger strike. NBC’s Michael Isikoff reports.

Rice: Committed to Fighting Terror, as We Meet Threats of Tomorrow

This content comes from Closed Captioning that was broadcast along with this program.

>>nbc news exclusive this morning on a proposal to spend tens of millions of your tax dollars to upgrade the
military prison
at
guantanamo bay
, cuba. here's
michael isikoff
.

>> reporter: the prison that
president obama
once vowed to shut down is still up and running. and the new general in charge wants another $150 million to overhaul the facility. all this while detainees are engaged in a
hunger strike
. 166 detainees remain at
gitmo
at a cost of $1 million each. and despite improvements in recent years, including communal living blocks and a new
soccer field
, the top general acknowledges the detainees' hopes of getting released were crushed when
president obama
stopped talking about closing it.

>>nothing in the inauguration speech about closing it. nothing in the
state of the union
. he's not restaffing the office that was, you know, focused on closing or transferring.

>> reporter: kelly described the
hunger strike
now involving 25 detainees as an attempt to regain attention.
white house
officials say they're still committed to closing
gitmo
as the president promised.

>>guantanamo will be closed no later than one year from now.

>> reporter: but they say their hands are tied by congress and prepare for the long haul, officials tell
nbc
news that general kelly wants to spend tens of millions for a new guard barracks,
dining hall
, and legal
conference center
. the pentagon is already spending $40 million for an underwater
fiberoptic cable
to pipe video of the commission hearings of the 9/11 hijackers. as one
defense lawyer
said,
gitmo
seems to be the one place they don't care about spending money. for today,
michael isikoff
,
nbc
news, washington.